After Questions
by Be My Master
Summary: This fic is based off of Switche Blades and Sunsets' fic "A Question Without an Answer." It's super good, go read it. This is what I think would happen next. About three years later.


**This story is based off of Switchblades and Sunsets' story, "A Question Without an Answer." It's great! Go read it!**

*PoV Darry*

"Darry, why's the sky blue?"

"Who was the first person on Earth?"

"Darry, we just learned that the universe has an "infinite" amount of space in it. How much is "infinite"?"

"Someone asked this yesterday… It's been on my mind for a while. If no one hears a tree fall, does it make a sound?"

"If there are no planets and no nothing in most parts of the universe, what exactly is that nothing? If it's there, doesn't it have to be something? I asked my science teacher, he said he didn't know... You know the answer, right Darry?"

"Where did I come from?"

"What's the difference between a Soc and a greaser? Steve says I'll know soon enough, but I want to know right now. Can _you_ tell me, Darry?"

Every day, Ponyboy bombards me with questions. New ones, old ones, ones that take hours to explain. He always goes back to "What's the difference between and Soc and a Greaser?" which scares me. He surprises me with his innocence, which he's managed to keep until he was thirteen. I thought the questions were getting annoying, and I never thought they had any importance. Until now.

"Hey Darry," Pony asked one evening while I was making dinner. He was supposed to be doing his homework.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"What happens when people die?"

"They die."

"I know, but what happens after they die? Is there really a heaven and hell?"

"It depends on what you believe."

"Do you believe in a heaven and hell?"

"I believe that we all go somewhere. Maybe it's not eternal damnation, maybe it's not pearly gates and clouds, and maybe it is. I don't know."

Pony nodded, going back to his home work. Thank God, I thought. No more questi-

"Darry?"

Never mind, I thought.

"Mmm?"

"Why do… Never mind."

"What?"

"Why do we have… you know, and girls don't?"

"You are probably the only guy I have ever met that was squeamish about saying penis, or even dick. I don't know, Ponyboy. Maybe it's because we need them and females don't."

"But we really only need them to go to the bathroom."

"And to produce offspring."

"Some guys," he muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. So what point are they? I mean, fish release sperm into the water and females release eggs into the water, so they don't need them. Frogs do the same thing, I think. It's only mammals who have them."

"And birds. Ponyboy, maybe… maybe we don't need them, and they are just a waste of space. But we can't get rid of them. And frogs don't have offspring like fish, they have…. Frog sex."

Ponyboy sighed.

Later that night, Ponyboy was watching this quiz show, QI, and he kept asking if I knew the answer.

"No, Pony, I don't," I said. "Can you please just be quiet? I had a long day."

"Sorry…" he said. "I'm gonna go to bed."

The next day, Ponyboy came home late, only wearing one shoe.

"What happened?" Soda asked as Pony got through the door.

"Huh?" He looked down at himself. "Oh. I had detention because a Soc said that I threw a fork at him. I didn't, of course, but the Socs are the big times, you know?"

I had a feeling of dread. "Socs are the big time, you know?" was not something Ponyboy usually said. It was not something innocent little Ponyboy would say. Shit.

"Want some cake, Pony?" Soda asked. He seems to notice, too.

"No thanks," Pony said, sitting down, and stretching his thin legs over the coffee table. "I'll wait 'til later."

That night at dinner, Soda kept trying to pass Pony his Brussels' sprouts discreetly, but Pony, who hated them about as much as Soda, kept shoo-ing him away. I set my fork down.

"Soda, you do know that I can see you doing that, right?"

Soda froze, looking at me with wide eyes. He smiled coyly, tilting his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Go was up, you didn't before."

Soda got up and went to the bathroom, grumbling.

"You okay, Pone?"

"Mmm…"

"What's up?"

"Nothin',"

"What did you do today?"

"School stuff."

"How was that school stuff?"

He shrugged, still not looking at me.

"What was school like?"

"Okay."

"Anything special happen?"

Ponyboy suddenly stood up, knocking his seat over. "God! Why are you askin' so many questions? What are you, the FBI?"

He stormed off to his and Soda's bedroom, just as Soda came back.

"What just happened?" Soda asked.

"I don't know."

Over the next few days, I found myself missing the questions. I would wait for them when Pony got home, or when I was making food. I would look at him expectantly whilst eating dinner, but he didn't have any more. I brought it up to Dally one day when he was over.

"Have you noticed anything about Ponyboy?"

"Aside from the fact that he's spendin' an unnatural amount of time with Johnny cake?" he asked.

I nodded. Johnny, who was sat next to Dally, blushed deep red.

"Well, he does seem to be quieter than normal. Why?"

"Well, I think he figured out what makes Socs hate us."

Dally, who didn't seem to care about anyone, looked saddened by this.

"He's so innocent, though!" I said.

"He ain't like us," Johnny said quietly. "He's a greaser, sure, and he ain't ignorant to the world, but he's pure. He sees the colours and the clouds and the good in life, while everyone else sees the darkness and the pain. He's one of a kind." Johnny blushed again.

"True." I thought about it deep into the night. I thought about it in the morning. I thought about it at work, where I nearly fell off the roof I was working on. I thought about it at home.

Ponyboy came home later than I did. He was all ruffed up, with two pink spots on his cheeks. He'd been at track meet again, I thought irrationally. Of course he was at track meet; he's the star person on the track team.

"How was school?" I asked.

Ponyboy shrugged.

"Hey, Darry?"

"Yeah?" I asked. Finally! I thought. The questions are back!

"A man was traveling to a town and comes to a fork in the road. If he went left he goes to liars village. If he went right he then goes to the village of truths, which is where he wants to go. However, he does not know which way is which. He doesn't have time to go both routes so he approaches a stranger that is standing in the middle of the fork. The stranger says he may only ask 3 questions and he would answer them. So the man asks, "Are you from the village of truths?" The stranger says, "Yes!" However, the man is still facing a dilemma if the stranger was from the village of truths he can only tell the truth, but if he was from the village of liars he would say he was from the village of truth. So then he asks the stranger, "Are you telling the truth?" The stranger says, "Yes!" But sadly this leaves the man in the same position as before. Can you figure it out?"

I looked at him, my mind boggled. "Uh…."

Ponyboy smiled at me. "I'll ask again tomorrow."


End file.
